Timber vs Canebrake (please save the lashing as I didnt find a current post in scrolling back. Im using mobile, cant do search feature) Is it just new-age vs traditional thing? I believe that the timber rattlesnake is just Crotalus horridus. I am aware that these snakes were known as canebrakes in the south, but I did not know they were a subspecies of C. horridus, I thought they were a coastal variant of the timber. This is what they essentially are, right? Then I find where canebrake rattlers of the south were referred to as Crotalus horridus atricaudatus while the northern populations were classified as C.h. horridus Digging deeper you find that canebrake rattlesnake was FORMERLY a subspecies of the timber rattlesnake. There have always been taxonomical changes in the world of herpetology but my question is why would canebrakes be considered a subspecies, then merged together with C.h.horridus, and then considered a subspecies again? Keep in mind, some references are outdated, yes. I mean genetically, the canebrake doesnt exist as a valid subspecies and the previous geographic divisions have also been shown to be genetically unsupported. This is not to say that C. horridus doesnt have significant color variations over its range, but color variations dont make a subspecies, or do they?
Posted on: Thu, 31 Jul 2014 22:09:03 +0000
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